Through an opportunity funded by the Rotary International Foundation, four doctors and a retired pharmacist from China are visiting Colorado for a month as a cultural exchange to promote peace and understanding.They were hosted by the Brush and Fort Morgan Rotary Clubs April 9-11, 2013. This program is known as Group Study Exchange (GSE) and a group from Colorado will be going over to China for their own experiences soon. The team leader is always a Rotarian, but the rest of the team are non-Rotarian professionals that have applied and been nominated for this cultural and vocational exchange.The Rotarian team leader, Sue Maguire (retired pharmacist), is actually from Rugby England, but has been living in Shanghai the last four years.

The China Rotary Group Study Exchange team presenting their program on their home provinces in China, led by Shanghai Rotarian Sue Maguire. (Interesting to note how they lined up close together, probably like they do in China, for their turn to present.) It was a casual relaxed meeting, but they do wear matching suits (China style) at larger city Rotary club meetings. The age of the doctors ranges from 28-37. (Courtesy photo/Teri Hermsmeyer)

There are only two Rotary Clubs in China - Shanghai and Beijing; only people with foreign passports are able to join. The Chinese government forbids their citizens to belong to clubs. The Rotary Club of Shanghai was first chartered in 1919, but shut down during WWII, and re-chartered in 2006; the Rotary Club of Beijing was first chartered in 1924 and re-chartered also in 2006. Between the two clubs there are 150 members, most coming in and out of China on three- to four-year work visas.Apparently, professional Chinese are able to apply for and travel as tourists through Rotary. Dr. Ban Shao (goes by English name of Fanny) is a doctor of cardiology and lives with her parents in Manshi, Yunnan (SW China); Dr.

Advertisement

Huang Qiong (goes by English name of Jenny) is also a cardiovascular physician, her husband is a nuclear technology engineer, they live in Zhengzhou, Henan (eastern China); Dr. Wu Chunbo, a general surgeon from Manshi, Yunnan, he talked about his wife and four-year old son; Dr. Zhang Xiangli is a cardiac surgeon from Zhengzhou, Henan, his wife is an accountant and they have an 8 year old daughter.The Tuesday snowstorm almost called for a Plan B. Special thanks to Bo Chapin and Larry Coughlin who braved the storm and picked them up at the transfer point in Hudson, after they had been with the Longmont Rotary Club a few days (went to Estes and Rocky Mountain National Park over the weekend!). Their first stop in Fort Morgan was the Morgan Community College Nursing Program. Unfortunately, the students had been let out earlier in the day due to the storm, so we couldn’t observe them in their lab, but we thank Kathy Frisbie and her assistant for sticking around to give them a tour! Then it was off to the Fort Morgan Library/Museum to get a picture of the area and its history. The museum is under construction, but several exhibits were still intact to learn from, thanks to Nikkie Cooper. They seemed to especially enjoy the 1950s soda fountain. The host families picked them up from there to head to dinner or home. We thank Dennis and Jan Brandenburg for hosting the two women doctors, who got in on Dennis’s birthday dinner at Barb Brandenburg’s home. Helen Schultz opened her home to Sue Maguire and Drs. Tom and Joy Brandt hosted the two surgeons in their home. Along with club presidents Teri Hermsmeyer and Doug Crandall, the latter group enjoyed a hot meal at the Little Bamboo restaurant before heading home.Wednesday was a long day but full of pleasant surprises. Great thanks to Rotarian Jerry Lyne (Pawnee Power Plant Manager) for taking the day off to drive the team around in his mini-van! The China team started out at the Brush Museum with OJ Metzgar and Steve Rhode enthusiastically providing a great tour. Special thanks to Stan Gray for opening the museum for this particular group! Then it was on to Eben Ezer Lutheran Care Center where Lori Jarrell (Nursing Educator) and Kari Degerness (Nursing Home Administrator) provided them an informative tour of their skilled nursing facility; the team noted that they really don’t have such facilities for their elders. Rev. Teri Hermsmeyer also shared the founding history of Eben Ezer and gave a tour of the church and museum.After a buffet lunch of interesting choices (for them) at the Country Steak Out, the group toured the Colorado Plains Medical Center in Fort Morgan. Sandy Schneider gave a well-informed tour, which included the helicopter pad on the roof, and the laboratory where the group enjoyed spending a great deal of time. The rehabilitation exercise room was well beyond their expectations for a hospital. They also were given a tour of East Morgan County Hospital with Dawn Benham and Cindy Mason even though the two surgeons were there earlier in the day to observe a laparoscopic surgery with Dr. Tom Brandt. They enjoyed visiting smaller 40 and 20 bed hospitals as their hospitals are around 800 beds! We also have more staff per patient than they do. Wednesday closed with a combined Fort Morgan and Brush Rotary family meeting at Eben Ezer’s Activity Center with a potluck dinner and host families in attendance. Even Celia and her teacher Judy Carruth, from Fort Morgan High School, were there to practice Celia’s Chinese/Mandarin language skills that she has been studying online. The China team gave their 20 minute slide/power point presentation on their homeland of China, especially the provinces they are from, as well as pictures of their families. Overall, they understand English rather well, but they are less sure with their speaking. Two of the group (other than the team leader) seemed to speak on behalf of the others. But each gave their own presentation speaking from written English, and did very well! The night was enjoyed by all.Thursday may have been the most memorable for the China team. Joan and Ted Pearson reported that they spent an extra half hour with Dave Brunner at B& B Pharmacy and the Grocery Kart. The robot that filled prescription bottles was fascinating to them, as well as wandering through the grocery store, which they hadn’t done yet in the U.S., apparently.They were able to observe the sales going on at High Plains Livestock Exchange, fascinated with the auctioneer. Tim Stutzman also provided them more information, answering their questions, wishing they had more time together. But it was off to pick up boxed lunches from Maverick’s restaurant and visit the Quail Ridge Dairy farm south of Fort Morgan where they watched how cows are milked and fed in this modern age. Chris and Mary Kraft enjoyed sharing their livelihood with them, and Chris could relate rather well with them. He had been on a GSE team to Russia with Helen Schultz several years ago. Then Joan and Helen drove the team back to Hudson’s Pepper Pod restaurant, the meeting point for the Aurora Fitzsimmons Rotary Club to pick them up for new adventures in their area. The surgeons were to sign papers and be prepped for surgery by 3:30 p.m.When asked at the potluck dinner what had been most memorable since the China team arrived here, their response was the COLD and wind. But I imagine more will be revealed later.When an Aurora Fitzsimmons Rotarian asked the two ladies the question: "if you had Chinese friends who were coming to Colorado, what would you recommend that they see? (They have been with Rotarians in Boulder, Longmont, Fort Morgan, Brush and Aurora so far.) They said Rocky Mountain National Park, the automobile museum, the 16th St. Mall, and a milk farm. They mentioned a few other things he couldn’t remember.All in all, this cultural exchange is a success and we give thanks to Rotary International and District 5450 for making it happen, but also to the Fort Morgan and Brush Rotary clubs for hosting them out on the rural plains. Their trip comes to an end at the Rotary District 5450 annual conference in Vail April 26-28 where they will give their final presentation.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.